Volume 40, Issue 1,
January 2013

Welcome back to your desk and here's hoping that 2013 is a magnificent year. How better to open the platform of discussion than to discuss the highly topical and urgent issue of climate change, and the influence of the food and beverage industry has on it?

The global food world under one roof
Fruition enters summer with new home
Introducing a new fish processing system
Need-to-know labelling facts
Puratos releases results of global survey
Black diamonds come to SA
This is how the world cooks
Fibre is more important than calories

There are very few people who are not aware of the chaotic weather vagaries and natural disasters that are happening around the globe today. And here, business can play a key role, particularly large food processors, since they are partly responsible for global warming. They have the clout to adjust production emissions through efficiencies as well as influence consumer behaviour.

When apartheid ended, the South African wine industry - like most others - had to reinvent itself. But progress has been rapid and, according to 2010 figures, the country ranks eighth in worldwide wine production volume.

Fermentation tank technology has come a long way. Although wine making is typically associated with techniques and traditions passed down over generations, one of the newest trends is the discovery of the egg.

Recently, media reports have expressed 'shock horror' at the sizable number of consumers willing to admit that they ignore labels. A survey by research giant, Canadean, reported that 21 per cent of shoppers 'rarely' or 'never' read the ingredients list.